Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, or Kyary in short, who has taken the world by storm with her hit single, ‘PONPONPON’, is now back with her third single this year, ‘Invader Invader.’ As the title of her latest single suggests, she has indeed made her invasion around the world, even in our little sunny island with her latest UNIQLO g.u commercials. Now let us take some time to read about the wonder that is Kyary and find out who are in her top three list of favorite personalities in this interview conducted by natalie.mu.

– The song, Invader Invader is really a catchy tune.

Kyary: As this song is the theme song for the second series of Uniqlo g.u commercials, the theme is to conquer the world with fashion. Even the lyrics in the song say so.

– For a song that is about conquering the world, the tune does not sound like one.

Kyary: The arrangement has a ‘cosmic’ sound to it, I guess? I think that the tune is really upbeat with a futuristic electronic sound, especially at the hook that goes “Da da da da Invader”. That part just gets stuck in your head all day and becomes highly addictive.

-- It is rare to see you being so jumpy when singing. I feel that your songs although always cheery and upbeat, there seem to always have a heart-rending and lonely part to it. But for Invader Invader, it seems that there is no sad part to it at all.

Kyary: Indeed. I feel that the song feels very aggressive as it has lyrics like “Laser beams from your eyes” and “Missiles from your ears”. But I do love how unrealistic the lyrics are.

– How did it feel like when you were recording this song?

Kyary: During the recording, the composer Yasutaka Nakata always tells me to sing more lightly and gently as I have put in too much feelings into the song. So I tried to sing more lightly and smoothly.

– So do you also sing songs which do not require much feelings during live performances?

Kyary: Ah, I do differentiate between those two categories.

– Any examples of songs which you put your feelings into?

Kyary: ‘Furisodeshon’ is one of them. This is because the lyrics felt really close to my heart as I have just turned 20 this year. Especially at the part where it goes, “Thank you, for being able to meet each and everyone of you”, I would always like to look at each and everyone in the audience when singing that. ‘Ninjya Re Bang Bang’ is also one of the songs which make me want to put my feelings in when singing. However, in this case, I would prefer to sing it in a way where I can build up to a climax.

– So the song Furisodeshon is really quite close to yourself in real life.

Kyary: Yes. ‘Unite Unite’ might also have a similar feeling to Furisodeshon. But for my songs, I always think that it will be good to have a balance between what is in real life and fantasy… Even though Invader Invader seem to lack most of that balance *laughs*

– Do you feel that the coupling track, ‘Point of View’ is closer to your real self as compared to Invader Invader?

Kyary: Yes. Since this song will also be used in Fuji Television’s variety show, ‘Ageru Terebi’, it is a cute and light pop tune.

– The lyrics are really positive.

Kyary: It is always a good thing to be able to take on a different perspective. As such, if you were to think about the negative that happens in your life in a different point of view, wouldn’t it change for the better? That is what the song is trying to tell the audience- a positive message about facing the adversities in life. This positive message is something I really love about this song.

– The theme of this song seems to be about being more open minded if you were to see things in different point of view.

Kyary: Yes, indeed. I think that ‘False Eyelashes’ and ‘Fashion Monster ‘also have similar themes. I am someone who believes in being positive despite moments of negativity happening around me. As such, I feel that this song really suits my personality.

– As Yasutaka Nakata writes the lyrics for your single this time, did you feel any form of connection to the lyrics?

Kyary: Yes, it is very important to feel connected to the lyrics of your song. There is a line that goes something like, “Wouldn’t it be great if you could create happy moments by yourself?” I felt that it really matches the kind of profession I am in right now. Of course I think that not only artistes, but normal people like students or company employees can also broaden their perspectives if they were to see things in a different light.

– Did you ever feel awkward about singing your songs as they always seem so blunt and straightforward in delivering intended meaning?

Kyary: Ah, I do have a lot of songs which are not cryptic at all such as ‘100% for you’, which tells us to be direct when thanking or apologizing to someone. But, I do not feel embarrassed singing about something like that, I think I would feel embarrassed if I were to sing a love song instead. *laughs*

– But there seems to be what we would call a typical love song in one of your works….

Kyary: I do not have any, I guess. Although “Suki sugite kiresou” can be counted as a love song, it is more about a love story about a girl acting a little possessive over her lover. And that is not ‘typical’. *laughs*

– Have you ever thought of trying to sing a ‘real’ love song?

Kyary: Although I do talk to Yasukata about matters regarding love…

– Ah, I see.

Kyary: When we have meals over recording, we do talk about that occasionally. Then he would record down something that looks like lyrics as I talk about how I would want my relationship to be like, etc. But for some reason, those parts never appeared in my songs, I guess he had something he wanted to write more…

– There is no love song for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu yet, I guess.

Kyary: There is no element of love in my personality at all, apart from that, I think he wanted to show the aspect of my personality that I am someone who is always looking for novelty. As a result, Yasukata did not write any songs regarding love .

– I would want to know what Yasukata Nakata writes in his notebook when having meals with you.

Kyary: Ah, the memo taking only takes place occasionally.I remembered telling him about my moments with false eyelashes and it soon became the lyrics of the song, False Eyelashes.

Hope that all of you are enjoying the interview so far, now we shall check out who are Kyary’s top three favorite personalities!

– I would like to know what are Kyary’s favorite top 3 personalities.

Ah, who do I like… I like the person who voiced Baikinman.

– Isn’t that a character from Anpanman?

Kyary: I couldn’t remember his name at hand, but I thought that he has a really incredible voice.

– Yes, that person would be Ryusei Naoka. He voiced for many characters other than Baikinman…

Kyary: He also did Freezer (a character from Dragonball), I think. I have watched Disney’s Mulan recently and I heard the same voice in one of the characters, Ling and I found out that it was voiced by the same person. He has also showed up around seven times in my search results when I searched for voice actors each time I hear a good one. *laughs*

– He really has quite the ‘voice’.

Kyary: I always like to look up on people with good voices. Although the voice behind Baikinman is an old veteran, I really want to meet him.

– But it will still be good to meet him anyway, right?

Kyary: But I really wonder what I am going to do if I ever meet him. As he seems like a seasoned veteran when I looked up for his pictures. *laughs*

Another one of my favorites is Naotaro Moriyama (J-pop singer who is famous for his hit song, Sakura). He is the funniest person I met back in 2012. He was a guest in a show that I appeared in called “Space Shower”. I only knew about his songs, but I have never seen him in person. But after meeting him, I found him really funny and he really made me laugh throughout the recording. Therefore, I would really want to be friends with him.

– Which aspect of his character ‘hit’ you?

Kyary: He is just funny in whatever he says. But he does not do it on purpose, perhaps he is just naturally comedic.

– He seems to have a polished sense of humour

Kyary: Yes, he does. I really like that. I think I would want to try going for his live performance sometime, as he sings really well too.

– Can you choose one more person?

Kyary: Ah… Who would that be… I do have a lot of favourites…

Staff: What about Tokimasa Hojyo (a military commander during the Heian period)?

Kyary: Eh.. Is it okay if I say that? It was a pretty trivial incident. Well, in that dream, I was walking in the streets of Shibuya…

–Yes..

Kyary: Then suddenly a girl came up to me with a shocked expression, so I wondered if she was my fan. But she asked me if I was Tokimasa Hojyo. I thought it was hilarious as it is so odd that I was mistaken for a historical character in the streets of Shibuya in 2013. *laughs*

– That seems pretty surreal. *laughs*

Kyary: When I searched for his picture, I noticed that he has a mole on his cheek.

– You immediately searched that on the internet? *laughs*

Kyary: But I totally do not look like him! Then in that same dream, oddly, I was drinking coffee even though I am not a coffee drinker. Suddenly I heard the sound of a buzzer, then I saw the same girl riding on a horse and beating me up. That was some nightmare.

– But why did you dream about him?

Kyary: I think it might be because I was reading about Shiro Amakusa (a historical character during the Edo period). As you can see, I like reading up on history. At that time I was in New York when I read that he died at the age of 14. As a result, I dreamed of that when I slept on my way back to the hotel.

–Oh I see.

Kyary: By the way, is it okay that I said that in this interview? That was quite insignificant. Is it really okay if I said something as trivial as that? *laughs*

We hope that you have enjoyed this interview. Also, please do check out our full length interview with her when she visited Singapore here.